A river ripper's trip around the world.

Kona wind is better than no wind

Today was quite a special day : the first planning day since probably more than a month! Wind did return to Maui’s north shore, but it was no ordinary trade wind, it was a Kona wind. The usual trade winds blow from the north-east, creating what windsurfers call starboard tack sailing conditions, meaning that the sailor will be on starboard tack (goofy footed, if you will, so right foot forward) leaving the beach, and will ride the waves on port tack (regular footed, left foot forward), but the Kona winds, which blow in the opposite direction, from the south-west, creating port tack sailing conditions, so leaving the beach on port tack and riding on starboard tack. It felt awkward at first, but after the first few waves, riding the waves goofy footed felt really good.

Unfortunately, the one day that the wind did show up, the waves were somehow very, very unsatisfying. Instead of the usual sizable yet forgiving waves that are normally found at Kanaha, we would try to ride some weird, small bumps in the water. Basically, the waves were so small that it was hard to tell when you were on them. Anyhow, I got a first taste of port tack conditions, which is really good, considering that Western Australia, my next destination is exclusively port tack.